H.G. Wells ‘The Red Room’ and ‘The Cone’ Essay - 1059 Words

H.G. Wells: ‘The Red Room’ and ‘The Cone’ The short stories ‘The Red Room’ and ‘The Cone’ by HG Wells both heavily feature tension and suspense. The author of the two stories, HG Wells, uses a number of techniques to create this mood and atmosphere to keep his readers interested. HG Wells immediately creates an air of mystery from the outset of ‘The Red Room’ when he introduces the ‘man with the withered arm’. This grotesque description of the man’s features, combined with his ambiguity due to having no name given to him, helps create this air of mystery and suspense. The term ‘tangible ghost’ helps create suspense too, as you normally associate the term ‘ghost’ with the supernatural, which†¦show more content†¦This imagery draws the reader in as you visualise this sudden, paranormal ‘illumination’, lighting the room, creating a mysterious atmosphere and a tense anticipation in the reader due to this description of the setting. HG Wells, however, uses a different technique to create a suspenseful mood in ‘The Cone’ by using his descriptions of the setting to foreshadow the climax of the story. He describes the ‘big ironworks’ as a ‘turmoil of flames and seething molten iron’, foreshadowing to the murder of Raut when he is in ‘turmoil’ himself and falls into the furnace and is engulfed in a ‘swift breath of flame’. The constant reference to ‘fire’ and ‘flame’ sets a nervous expectation within the reader that the fire of the furnace is going to have some sort of play in the outcome of the story. Another way in which Wells generates a suspenseful mood and atmosphere is through his use of dialogue. When HG Wells has the narrator of ‘The Red Room’ say ‘There is neither ghost of Earl nor ghost of Countess in that room, there is no ghost there at all; but worse, far worse –‘. This creates a tense feeling within the reader because you wonder what could this thing worse than a ghost be. This example of Wells’ use of dialogue adds to the air of mystery of ‘The Red Room’, as the way in which the narrator conveys his point is very mysterious to a Twenty-First CenturyShow MoreRelatedEssay on The Red Room and The Cone by H.G. Wells1141 Words   |  5 PagesThe Red Room and The Cone by H.G. Wells Both stories are Gothic mystery stories and were written around the late eighteenth century to the early nineteenth century. These sorts of stories usually have a setting of a dark, abandoned and scary place. The Red Room is about a young man who visits a castle and feels he must spend a night in a mysterious room that is suspected to be haunted. The Cone is about a woman having an affair with a man called Raut. The story is based around the husbandRead More Tension in The Red Room, The Cone and The Superstitious Mans Story3113 Words   |  13 PagesTension in The Red Room, The Cone and The Superstitious Mans Story The Red Room, The Cone and The Superstitious Mans Story are all short stories which were written before 1914. The Red Room and The Cone were both written by H.G. Wells and The Superstitious Mans Story was written by Thomas Hardy. All three of these stories were written in Victorian Times (1837-1901). These were years of great scientific and technological developments. The authors of the three stories show usRead MoreModern History.Hsc.2012 Essay25799 Words   |  104 Pagestheir families turned more and more to these state and local public welfare systems but these were far too underdeveloped to cope, particularly as tax revenues were falling and budgets needed to be met. Workers also turned to private charities such as Red Cross and Salvation Army†¦ Charity ‘soup kitchens’ established – long queues of hungry men in every city. Millions of workers searching for work across US Nearly 2 million workers essentially began living as nomads, travelling to different cities